Author
Topic: This Car Runs on Code (Read 4930 times)

The avionics system in the F-22 Raptor, the current U.S. Air Force frontline jet fighter, consists of about 1.7 million lines of software code. The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, scheduled to become operational in 2010, will require about 5.7 million lines of code to operate its onboard systems. And Boeing’s new 787 Dreamliner, scheduled to be delivered to customers in 2010, requires about 6.5 million lines of software code to operate its avionics and onboard support systems.

These are impressive amounts of software, yet if you bought a premium-class automobile recently, ”it probably contains close to 100 million lines of software code,” says Manfred Broy, a professor of informatics at Technical University, Munich, and a leading expert on software in cars. All that software executes on 70 to 100 microprocessor-based electronic control units (ECUs) networked throughout the body of your car.

Alfred Katzenbach, the director of information technology management at Daimler, has reportedly said that the radio and navigation system in the current S-class Mercedes-Benz requires over 20 million lines of code alone and that the car contains nearly as many ECUs as the new Airbus A380 (excluding the plane’s in-flight entertainment system). Software in cars is only going to grow in both amount and complexity. Late last year, the business research firm Frost & Sullivan estimated that cars will require 200 million to 300 million lines of software code in the near future.

Such complexity brings with it reliability issues. IBM claims that approximately 50 percent of car warranty costs are now related to electronics and their embedded software, costing automakers in the United States around $350 and European automakers 250 per vehicle in 2005.

In 2005, Toyota voluntarily recalled 160 000 of its 2004 and some early 2005 model year Prius hybrids because of a software problem that caused the car to suddenly stall or shut down. The time needed to repair the software was estimated at about 90 minutes per vehicle, or about 240 000 person-hours. Even at cost, that is a lot of money.

Last year alone, there were several automotive recall notices related to software problems. For example, in May 2008, Chrysler recalled 24 535 of its 2006 Jeep Commanders because of a problem in the automatic-transmission software. Then in June, Volkswagen recalled about 4000 of its 2008 Passats and Passat Wagons and about 2500 Tiguans for a problem in the engine-control-module software that could cause an unexpected increase in engine revolutions per minute when the air-conditioning is turned on. In November, GM recalled 12 662 of its 2009 Cadillac CTS vehicles for a software problem within the passenger-sensing system that could disable the front passenger air bag when it should be enabled or enable it when it should be disabled. It is a tribute to the automotive software developers, though, that there aren’t many more recalls, given all the software in cars.